It is becoming common for users to have access to their voicemail in their email or instant messaging inbox. Primarily, this comes in the form of an audio attachment to an email (or instant message) where the audio contains the contents of the voicemail. The audio can be played back when desired. Processing of voicemail is often marked as a discontinuity in the information worker's typical communications workflow that is dominated by email and similar technologies.
Other approaches produce (either automatically or by use of humans) a transcription of the voicemail into the user's inbox. These services are typically not integrated into the user's normal data flow. Their primary value is derived from reading the transcription itself and, thus, a near-perfect transcription is important.